Jamie Nye: Junior hockey in May was a great thing

The Regina Pats historic season came to an end but the story of their defeat in the WHL Championship series highlights the fickle business that is a WHL franchise.

Change is always on the horizon.

Winning a championship is like catching lightning in a bottle. You have to time your championship runs perfectly and it requires a lot of luck finding the right players at the right time.

Twenty-year-olds, captain Adam Brooks and assistant captain Chase Harrison, were part of that magic. But last night they skated off the ice as members of the Pats for the last time.

You will be hard pressed to find two nicer young men. That’s why diehard junior hockey fans have a lump in their throat every year when the over-agers play their last game at home, especially players like Adam and Chase who played their entire careers in one place.

Fans get to see a 15-year or 16-year-old take their first shift and then leave the ice a young man in his 20s.

Junior careers are short. The opportunity to win is shorter. That’s why a run like the Pats is so special. You just never know when you’ll catch that lightning again.